From HighestBridges.com

Liuguanghe entered the record books in 2001 when it became the world’s highest bridge at 975 feet (297 mtrs), toppling the 72 year old record long held by Colorado’s 955 foot (291 mtr) high Royal Gorge bridge. Even though Liuguanghe’s record would stand for just two years, it will always have the distinction of being the only beam bridge in history that held the top spot among high bridges. The decision not to use an arch, suspension or cable stayed bridge was probably motivated by the deep height of the gorge where the tall piers of a prestressed concrete beam bridge would be easier to construct since the two sides of the bridge could be cantilevered outward without any temporary cable stays or highlines.

The Liuguanghe bridge is the crown jewel in a highway that is best described as a museum of high Chinese bridges. Located near the city of Guiyang in China’s Western province of Guizhou, this 100 mile (161 km) stretch of 2-lane highway contains 2 suspension bridges, one 650 feet (198 mtr) and one 550 feet (168 mtr) high as well as another concrete beam bridge 600 feet (183 mtr) high and two arches, 380 (116 mtr) and 360 feet (110 mtrs) high. Outside of China, there is no other 100 mile (161 km) stretch of highway on earth to have so many high bridges. Although Liuguanghe is named after a nearby town, the bridge actually crosses the upper end of the Wujiang river, a large tributary of the Yangtze that has 5 of China’s highest bridges including the upcoming Dimuhe suspension bridge, the Liuchonghe cable stayed bridge, the massive concrete beam bridge viaduct at the city of Wujiang as well as the breathtaking Jiangjiehe arch bridge. Only the Beipanjiang River has a more spectacular group of high river crossings in China.

The scale of the Liuguanghe bridge is not always evident from photographs until you realize that the main span of the bridge is 787 feet (240 mtrs) between piers - longer than any beam bridge span that has ever been built in the United States. The pier on the west side of the bridge is the tallest point of the structure standing 295 feet (90 meters) in height. Resting on top of the two piers is a single-cell box girder with a height of 44 feet (13.4 mtrs) over the piers and 13 1/2 feet (4.1 mtrs) at mid-span. On the northwest end of the bridge there is a temporary pullout along the shoulder to park. From there you can walk across the bridge and peer into the void over the 4 foot (1.5 mtr) high concrete barrier.

For those who may not be familiar with cantilevered concrete beam bridges, they are the most popular type of high bridge in China by far. Beam bridges are built by two formwork carriers that advance out from either side of the pier cap with the load balanced evenly on both sides. The concrete box is cast outward in segments of 3 to 5 meters on both ends of the T-shaped pier at the same rate of progress so that the structure remains balanced until the two sides meet in the middle. Unlike other types of bridges, this method requires no falsework or other supports outside of the small footprint of the piers making it easy to build over deep canyons where temporary supports would not be practical.

The beautiful location spawned a temporary food vendor village on the Southeast side of the span sometime after 2008 that was made more permanent in 2013. This has increased traffic on the highway along with China's explosion of car ownership. The resulting congestion has made travel along the 2-lane highway a risky and dangerous adventure. Much of this is due to the slow trucks that stack up as they creep along the steeper grades with endless turns that create blind spots. With no passing lane and no breakdown lanes, drivers have no choice but to pull into the oncoming lane to pass. This has created a deadly cocktail with head-on collisions occurring on a weekly basis.

The good news is that in 2016 and 2017 two new 4-lane expressways will have bypassed the Guibi highway. In the north is the Xiqian expressway with the giant new Liuguanghe cable stayed bridge crossing more then 300 meters above the Wujiang. To the south is the new Guiqian expressway with Yachi Bridge - the world's second highest cable stayed bridge also more then 300 meters above the Wujiang River. Hopefully these two new routes will have squeezed most of the traffic off of the old Guibi highway and left it to become a more safe route for the smaller, local towns in the region.